The present invention relates generally to medical devices and in particular aspects to systems and methods useful for anchoring graft materials to bodily structures.
As further background, implant materials that are receptive to tissue ingrowth have found wide use in the medical arts, particularly in applications involving tissue replacement, augmentation, and/or repair. These materials may be naturally-derived or non-naturally-derived, and when they are implanted within a patient, cells and other bodily substances from the patient can infiltrate the material, leading to, for example, new tissue growth on, around, and/or within the implanted material. In some instances, collagen-containing materials have been adapted for use as implantable tissue ingrowth materials. Suitable collagenous materials can be provided by collagenous extracellular matrix (ECM) materials. Such ECM materials can be provided, for example, by materials isolated from a suitable tissue source from a warm-blooded vertebrate, e.g., from the submucosal tissue of a mammal. Such isolated submucosal tissue, for example, small intestinal submucosa (SIS), can be processed so as to have bioremodelable, angiogenic properties and promote cellular invasion and ingrowth.
As well, a variety of techniques have been developed for anchoring graft materials to bodily structures. These include but are not limited to suturing, stapling, and/or applying adhesives to graft materials, and utilizing various mechanical devices such as hooks, barbs, clips, and variations and combinations thereof. Yet, there remain needs for improved and/or alternative systems and methods for anchoring graft materials and other objects to bodily structures. There also remain needs for implantable medical products (e.g., stents, prosthetic valves, etc.) that incorporate such systems. The present invention is addressed to those needs.